Modeling of ore-forming and geoenvironmental systems: Roles of fluid flow and chemical reaction processes

Abstract

Ore-forming and geoenviromental systems commonly involve coupled fluid flow and chemical reaction processes. The advanced numerical methods and computational modeling have become indispensable tools for simulating such processes in recent years. This enables many hitherto unsolvable geoscience problems to be addressed using numerical methods and computational modeling approaches. For example, computational modeling has been successfully used to solve ore-forming and mine site contamination/remediation problems, in which fluid flow and geochemical processes play important roles in the controlling dynamic mechanisms. The main purpose of this paper is to present a generalized overview of: (1) the various classes and models associated with fluid flow/chemically reacting systems in order to highlight possible opportunities and developments for the future; (2) some more general issues that need attention in the development of computational models and codes for simulating ore-forming and geoenviromental systems; (3) the related progresses achieved on the geochemical modeling over the past 50years or so; (4) the general methodology for modeling of ore-forming and geoenvironmental systems; and (5) the future development directions associated with modeling of ore-forming and geoenviromental systems.